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iConcierge is available

Ask4Jay

By Ask4Jay,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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TechCruisier

TechCruisier

Posted
Posted
I used the app on the Epic last week too. Was very disappointed that you could not use it to communicate like they had originally advertised. Couldn't find enough other reason to carry my phone on the ship.

 

I am sailing now and we are able to make calls off the ship and to each other. A waiter told me they are adding in restaurant reservation booking as well. Which we cannot do right now. So it must be a slow roll out of features.

 

Major thumbs up NCL!!!!

 

- Geek

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Preds

Preds

Posted
Posted
I am sailing now and we are able to make calls off the ship and to each other. A waiter told me they are adding in restaurant reservation booking as well. Which we cannot do right now. So it must be a slow roll out of features.

 

Major thumbs up NCL!!!!

 

- Geek

That's great news! Especially since we sail on Saturday.

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TechCruisier

TechCruisier

Posted
Posted
What version were you running onboard? They released version 1.2 a few days ago and it states the update enabled chat and voip (though looking at the app I don't see where).

 

Also, did you have to pay anything to use the app, and/or did they offer OBC for reviewing it like the did the previous sailing?

 

We sail this upcoming Saturday. Hoping they've added the chat function.

 

We are a three phone and 1 tablet family (Android, iPhone(and iPad) and Windows Phone 7) and my results from this week for VOIP and Chat are as follows:

VoIP(Android, iPhone)

Chat(Android, iPhone)

Shore Excursion Purchase (All Devices)

Restaurant Menu Viewing (All Devices)

Account Folio Review (All Devices)

Shopping Info (All Devices)

Spa Info (All Devices)

Bar Info (All Devices)

Daily Program (All Devices)

 

This week they are all free. Including the VoIP calling on and off the ship. I doubt that will continue. But as long as it is reasonably priced it is so worth it.

 

- Geek

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Preds

Preds

Posted
Posted
We are a three phone and 1 tablet family (Android, iPhone(and iPad) and Windows Phone 7) and my results from this week for VOIP and Chat are as follows:

VoIP(Android, iPhone)

Chat(Android, iPhone)

Shore Excursion Purchase (All Devices)

Restaurant Menu Viewing (All Devices)

Account Folio Review (All Devices)

Shopping Info (All Devices)

Spa Info (All Devices)

Bar Info (All Devices)

Daily Program (All Devices)

 

This week they are all free. Including the VoIP calling on and off the ship. I doubt that will continue. But as long as it is reasonably priced it is so worth it.

 

- Geek

Awesome news. Thanks for the additional information.

 

It looks to me like they're adding features slowly each week like you mentioned to work out the kinks.

 

Hope VOIP remains free for our sailing on Saturday as out 19yo son is staying home and my wife would love to be able to talk with him without paying $2.99 a minute to AT&T!

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johnql

johnql

Posted
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Hope VOIP remains free for our sailing on Saturday as out 19yo son is staying home and my wife would love to be able to talk with him without paying $2.99 a minute to AT&T!

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that the VOIP will work only on the ship, between those using the app. I don't think you can call from the ship to shore.

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TechCruisier

TechCruisier

Posted
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Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that the VOIP will work only on the ship, between those using the app. I don't think you can call from the ship to shore.

 

We can call off the ship and people can call us by calling a 1-800 number listed in the app. It is free this week. But they will surely charge at some point. I will ask if anybody knows what they are going to charge.

 

- Geek

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johnql

johnql

Posted
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We can call off the ship and people can call us by calling a 1-800 number listed in the app. It is free this week. But they will surely charge at some point. I will ask if anybody knows what they are going to charge.

 

- Geek

Thanks for the update. It will be interesting to see how this app evolves along with the associated fees.

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  • 2 weeks later...
jaffa44

jaffa44

Posted
Posted
Does anyone know why this is only available in the US iTunes store? Surely NCL's customers are from all over the world?

 

does anyone know if it will be available in the UK iTunes store?

 

 

its now availabli in the uk on itunes and android phones ,i had been looking for app now available in uk downloaded it this morning

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jmsnyc

jmsnyc

Posted
Posted

I just came off the Epic & used it on Android. Iphone seemed to have less bugs. Messaging was spotty and was awkward to use. Calls home worked well with a few second delay btwn other party which could be expected.

 

Intraship calls didn't work so well, other party could not here me.

 

$10 credit for survey which is decreasing each week. Ship is now off to Barcelona so not sure what plan will be. Must sign up for preview group 1st day to get msging (on ship only) and calls free.

 

Plan is to charge flat rate for intraship msging & calls, 79 cents/min for calls to land which I think is high. Definitely not ready for prime time costs yet

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doemichael

doemichael

Posted
Posted
its now availabli in the uk on itunes and android phones ,i had been looking for app now available in uk downloaded it this morning

 

 

hi

 

Can i ask what you downloaded it on ? I was able to put it on ipad but cannot find it for iphone :(

 

thanks

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Preds

Preds

Posted
Posted

I used the iConcierge App extensively while on the Epic last week. They're still in beta testing, thus we were fortunate to have full access to all the available features within the app for no cost (including ship to shore VOIP calls).

 

Overall I think the app has a ton of potential, however, there are many kinks that need to be worked out. Once they iron things out it will be a great tool for cruisers.

 

The app runs on it's own WIFI network, independent of the ships internet WIFI network. For the most part this was fine, however, we found on days where we had local carrier coverage (i.e. St. Thomas, and in/out of Miami) we had to disconnect from the WIFI network and therefore discontinue use of the app in order to retrieve emails and whatnot through our carrier. This was a bit of a PITA as I found myself jumping back and forth with turning WIFI on and off and reconnecting to the network inside the app.

 

The app also seems to have issues staying connected to the WIFI network on its own. On many, many, occasions, the app just disconnected from the network randomly and had to be reconnected. Once it drops off you have to relaunch the app and reconnect. It's pretty easy to do, however, when you don't realize you've been disconnected, or the person you contact doesn't realize they're disconnected, it makes the app less functional. MUCH less functional. It would be nice if they had some type of audible and onscreen alert to warn you that you've been disconnected.

 

We had mostly stellar success with the Ship-to-Shore calls using VOIP through the App. We made calls to our son back home daily. Noticed a slight bit of lag (maybe a half second), but it was very usable and for the most part very clear. We did have a call drop on a couple occasions but were able to reconnect quickly. According to conversations I had with the developers and the survey we took, they appear to be considering charging $0.79 per minute for for ship-shore VOIP calls. That's better than $2.49 per minute using the ship's cell tower, though I think $0.49 would be more attractive, particularly since they're looking to charge $7.95 per cruise to use the App in the first place.

 

We also had mostly good luck using the app to make calls throughout the ship to other devices running the app or even directly to cabins, reservations, etc. The downside again was trying to call someone onboard who was inadvertently disconnected from the app. This happened so often that it was 50/50 at best in terms of reliable use onboard to others running the app.

 

Messaging using the app was worse. Numerous messages disappeared into lala land. We had 3 iPhones and one Android phone in our group. The iPhones worked decently as long as the app stayed connected, but I couldn't receive a message from the Android phone the entire week. Even standing next to each other with both apps connected.

 

Other tools within the app were mostly informational, and limited at that. The restaurant menus were nice for the specialty restaurants, but only gave you the always available menus for the main dining rooms. I would like to see the main dining rooms show you each days menu so you can plan around them. Further, it would be much more useful if you could schedule dining reservations from within the app.

 

Only a limited sample of daily activities were listed inside the app. They updated daily, but left a lot of activities listed in the Daily's out. I'd rather they list everything as published in page 3 of the Daily's.

 

It would be nice if you could add/or change ticketing for shows rather than just see whats playing.

 

The onboard shopping and ports & tours sections of the app were nearly useless. Very basic information at best.

 

I was surprised they didn't integrate deck plans into the app. That should be easy to do.

 

Finally, the account review was VERY nice and allowed us to keep an accurate tab on our spending. Next to the Ship-to-Shore calls, this was the most useful part of the app.

 

Overall I liked what we saw so far and look forward to using it again on our next cruise, hopefully with the kinks all resolved and maybe some added features like I mentioned above.

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johnql

johnql

Posted
Posted

Thanks, Preds, for the informative update. Very helpful. It sounds like once the kinks are ironed out, and once they incorporate some of the suggestions made from the survey's feedback, that the app will be very useful.

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Preds

Preds

Posted
Posted
Thanks, Preds, for the informative update. Very helpful. It sounds like once the kinks are ironed out, and once they incorporate some of the suggestions made from the survey's feedback, that the app will be very useful.

Actually I wish I could have talked with the developers later in the week instead of only on embarkation day. I found the survey to be insufficient to detail the issues we experienced and don't feel they'll gleam much useful information from them.

 

That said, the developers are combing the web for reviews and input. I know this as a fact since one of them asked if I was Preds from CC having read my earlier posts here in this thread. That's a real positive IMO.

 

I think they are making a sincere effort to make it a truly beneficial app, hopefully they'll see my comments here, and I encourage them to email/call me if they want more detailed feedback!

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alwalaska

alwalaska

Posted
Posted
I would use this! I got the ap on my iPhone and would use it on board since I use a lot of travel aps when traveling. Hoping to see on the Pearl! I love the idea of instant gratification!

 

Please let us know if it works. I'd love to try it out on the Dawn in the fall if it is available.

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sweetride

sweetride

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Posted

there is no way they put it on the older ships for a long time. it would need to go into dry dock for extensive upgrades in order to make it work as its tied into their whole computer system. the systems on the older ships cannot support such a system. they probably wouldn't make enough off it to make it worth the upgrade

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Linda the Book Lover

Linda the Book Lover

Posted
Posted
there is no way they put it on the older ships for a long time. it would need to go into dry dock for extensive upgrades in order to make it work as its tied into their whole computer system. the systems on the older ships cannot support such a system. they probably wouldn't make enough off it to make it worth the upgrade

 

I have my fingers crossed that when the Pearl is in dry dock this upgrade happens.:)

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  • 5 weeks later...
MikeySoft

MikeySoft

Posted
Posted (edited)
I have my fingers crossed that when the Pearl is in dry dock this upgrade happens.:)
The Pearl is now out of dry dock. Does anyone know if it has been updated for iConcierge?

 

Thanks,

Mike D

Edited by MikeySoft
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